Our Arms as Wide as the Sky
by Nerdified Elf
Summary: Jenny always had her head in the clouds, but managed to keep her feet on the ground. But when a graduation trip to the Big Apple goes awry, its going to take everything she is to survive her new life. But how can she, when what she is, is a secret kept from her by her own family and could make the world turn against her?
1. What Dwells in the Depths

**Oh wow, hey you guys! Took a bit longer than I thought to update! I hope most of my old followers are still with me, but I know thats probably not true because I accidentally deleted the story before I could put up the message. But I hope you all find this again.**

 **I'm so happy to be revisiting the world of Hellboy, I love it there! This chapter is just really to introduce the story and character. I really hope I did well to build Jenny up as a character. She's like my lil sister! I love her! And I hope you guys notice how much we have both grown.**

 **So I don't have much else to say other than enjoy the chapter and please please PLEASE review! I missed you guys!**

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 _Have you ever gotten the feeling that you weren't normal? That deep inside, you were bizarrely different from everyone?_

Jenny guessed that she had had those generic angsty teenage sorts of thoughts, mainly through high school.

But at the present moment in time, those thoughts were pushed completely out of her head. Now more than ever, she felt a part of the crowd; this was a feat considering her unfortunate genetics.

With her hair included, she could easily tower over many people, almost reaching six feet. No joke, it made picking high school basketball teams awkward. The height and hair were thanks to her dad, floating like a storm around her head that was disastrously frizzy on the best of days. She'd been told by some that her green eyes used to sparkle mischievously when she was little. Now she kept mostly to herself, pranks being the last thing one would expect from her.

Introverted or not, there was no possible way to not be excited right now. College graduation had finally come.

Her hometown of Old Fort, North Carolina was 30 minute away from Asheville and a mere 5 minutes longer from the University of North Carolina campus there. She had spent four years there, studying Archeology and Photography.

She might not have lived with her parents as long as she did if her dad wasn't diagnosed with leukemia in her senior year of high school. Her mother needed her help more than ever with the horseback riding tours that made up their income.

But it all paid off now, as she sat in the crowd of graduates, trembling with excitement. The speeches had been made, hands had been shaken, and any second the final speech would end and they would be off to start their lives.

Well, that was how it seemed. Jenny wasn't so naive as to expect that she would immediately go on to do great things. She was more than willing to put in the time and effort to make it to the top. She had the brains and the brawn to blaze her own trail.

Jenny was so lost in her thoughts, she nearly missed the cheering as the valedictorian finished. All around her, people jumped to their feet and began flinging their caps. Jenny had to laugh as she joined them, sending her cap sailing high into the air.

As the crowds began to trickle away to meet for pictures with family members out in the lobby, Jenny quickly gathered her belongings and slipped through the masses. Her parents were waiting at the exit, all open arms and glowing, prideful smiles.

"Oh honey, I am so very proud of you. That was a wonderful ceremony." Her mother grasped her clammy hands in her own tight, weathered ones. Expecting her father's hair ruffle, Jenny nimbly dodged the offending hand, earning a laugh from the man. She hadn't been this excited about an accomplishment since she finally tamed the rather willful gelding her mother took in a few years ago.

They preferred to take only a few pictures, their growling stomachs dictating how much time they spent.

That night was one of the best Jenny could remember; there was good talk and good food waiting at home; even her father said that he hardly felt any pain. There at the dinner table, when all the food was put away and they all nursed cups of tea or coffee, her parents brought up the topic of the trip.

"New York City?"

"That's right. We know ya've been ta a few big cities, but ya've never been to New York, and we want ya to be able ta experience the world before ya settle down with a big fancy job." Her father said, leaning back with his hands pressed to his stomach, satisfied as always by his wife's cooking.

"Mom? Are you on board with this?" Jenny's mother was like her daughter in the respect that she preferred the country to the big city. In fact, Abigail Lockwood, was a bit scared of cities. In Jenny's childhood, she had drilled safety rules into her daughter's head; find a policeman if you get lost, don't stop for people asking for money, walk fast if you're alone at night. Sometimes Jenny listened, sometimes she didn't. She usually gave whatever pocket money she could to the homeless.

Abigail sighed, "You know how I am about cities, dear. But your father has a point. We never travel much unless it's in the area and you never got to backpack across Europe." Jenny smiled, remembering how insistent she had been that she wanted to take a year off before college. When that plan fell through due to her father's cancer, she stopped her complaints. "You might like the Big Apple."

"Say I agreed to this trip... How am I going to pay for it?" She had been saving money since highschool, putting a little in the bank with every paycheck she was given as a full employee of at her parent's ranch.

Even so, she wasn't eager to drain her bank account for one trip.

"We've got that covered." Her parents assured.

"What? You do?" Where had they gotten the money? They hadn't taken out a loan had they?

"We've been putting a lot aside lately, cutting back on some things. This is something we've been planning since your sophomore year of college." Her mother admitted.

"What about dad's chemotherapy fees?" The therapy didn't come cheap. Even though they caught her father's cancer early, it took up a large chunk of their savings. Her parents exchanged a look.

"We were waiting for tonight ta tell ya because there was already cause for a celebration," Jenny didn't miss her father taking her mother's hand under the table and the smile they shared. "The chemotherapy worked. Mah cancer has receded and there's a very small chance of it returning."

Jenny couldn't open her mouth for fear that the tidal wave of relief, joy, and surprise rising up inside her would spill out and drown them all in a fizzy cocktail of delight. Her parents beamed at her from across the table, amused by her shock.

"Are you serious? Dad, that's fantastic!" Jenny reached across the table to take their free hands, completing the circle of family, warm and carefree hearts beating between the three.

Later that evening, before she went to bed, Jenny took an old wooden frame and slipped her degree in the back. Proudly, she hung it neatly above her desk with her high school diploma and other various awards. She let herself slip into an easy, light sleep; feelings of love and pride warming her heart.

As July rolled around, Jenny began to prepare for her trip. She spent the morning of her departure packing suitcases into the back of her trusty, rusty old jeep. As she pulled away from the curb, she waved farewell to her parents who had awoken early to see her off.

After four hours on the road, the heat and her achy legs forced her to pull into a deserted rest stop. Cold sodas and snacks were packed tight in the mini cooler which she dug up. The bubbles burned on her tongue as she lazily scanned the parking lot. So far, the scenery was nothing new. Smokey forests, broad sloping hills, and the sky mercifully clear of rain clouds. But she knew that soon it would all give way to tall, reaching skyscrapers and city traffic.

After she finished her drink and a granola bar or two, she saw no reason to stay any longer and was back on the road within minutes. The sun was beating down, but the cover was up and the interior was nice and cool.

She turned the dial on the radio, scanning for a station. Finding a 60's pop station, she cranked it up louder and sang along as she weaved her way down the winding road.

 **~:~:~:~:~**

"Oh man, I think that the seat may have melded to my butt." She moaned piteously and rubbed her backside. She had just pulled into the parking lot of her hotel in New York City not minutes ago.

A pimply teenage bellhop hauled the bags into the lobby and up to her room before her. Jenny checked in and rode up the elevator to the third floor. The boy was waiting and courteously showed her inside, handing her the key and left.

She whistled appreciatively at the grandiose room and silently thank her parents for making the hotel arrangements. Not to mention, it also had a stellar view. One window looked down at the street the hotel was on. Perky, colorful shops and dark, cozy coffeehouses lined the road. On the opposite side of her suite, another window oversaw the pool in the hotel courtyard.

She couldn't resist a nice dip in the inviting water, especially when no one was out there. Busy pools were ok, but one could only take so much of rowdy kids. There had been too many incidents of tidal waves to the face and children crawling over her like playground equipment at family reunions.

The temptation of the pool all to herself was too good to resist. She quickly dug a swimsuit out of her bag, left her bags unpacked, and remembered to grab her room key on her way out.

A hot breeze swept through the courtyard as Jenny stepped into the water, making the swim all the better. By the time she had had her fill of the pool, the sun was setting in the grey sky.

" _Sunset... Wish I could see it from up there. I bet the view is much better in the clouds. But I'm stuck down here."_ She thought as she floated on her back.

Feeling a bit like Judy Garland, she let the water fill her ears and dreams of flying over the rainbow fill her mind until the sun slipped beneath the horizon.

 **~:~:~:~**

Foreign sounds blasted Jenny awake later that night, namely a blaring car alarm directly under her hotel window.

Cursing at the time, Jenny stumbled to the window and glared down at the commotion below. An oddly large dump truck was attempting to back down the alleyway across the street. Instead, it had made too wide of a turn and had hit a car,setting off the alarm.

" _Seriously? What is a dump truck doing out at this time of night?"_

Granted, this was the city that never slept, but something about this seemed... _off._

As if to highlight the peculiarity of the situation, men in suits and black overcoats came running out of the cars following the truck and began to direct the driver by hand, quickly and efficiently maneuvering the truck into the alley without further incident.

After the truck disappeared down the side street, the excitement died down. And yet, even when Jenny retreated back to bed, a curious feeling rested in her stomach the rest of the night.

 **~:~:~:~**

By the time morning dawned on the fourth day of Jenny's trip, she had spent one day exploring the city and the next visiting Broadway. Even though it cost a fortune, she spent the whole afternoon seeing famous works put to life on the stage.

Jenny was surprised to find that she was enjoying herself so much. Other than the traffic, there was little different from Asheville. She even found her way to the public library. Her mother's voice floated through her mind, " _You need to get out more! Spending all day cooped up inside isn't good. Go out, make friends, have adventures! See the world!"_

This was a familiar argument from Jenny's youth. Eventually her mother came to understand that books _were_ her friends. They were her adventures and through them she explored new worlds. At first, her mother didn't want to leave it at that, but her father stepped in on the matter.

" _Leave it be Abigail. She's enough work ta do here on the ranch. If it bothers ya so much, she can come read ta me in the barn while Ah work."_

As long as Jenny was technically outside and getting exercise by acting out her favorite scenes on top of the hay bales, her mother left it alone. It also let her spend more time with her father. She treasured those moments.

The New York City public library was, unsurprisingly much larger than Asheville's. The quiet murmurs of fellow patrons set Jenny's mind at ease. Here she wouldn't be bothered with lost tourists, no more familiar with the city than she was, or being handed _another_ flyer for _another_ hot, up-and-coming band.

Here, she could enjoy the peace and the pleasant permeating smell of old paper and lemon-scented cleaning products.

Here, Jenny could let go of her problems or stress and get lost in a new story for hours on end.

She wasted no time, speeding through the fiction section and selected a few promising novels with all the precision of a surgeon. Mythology was her next stop. Finally, with a hefty stack of books, Jenny carefully made her way to a vacant nook tucked away into the lower levels of the library.

As fun as it was exploring New York City, Jenny hadn't thought to pack any books with her luggage and was dying for a story. So as she curled herself into a cozy ball in the depths of a plush armchair, her focus narrowed until all she knew was the tale printed before her.

This was perhaps why the faint but steady rumbling sound refused to register to her brain until it was almost a roar.

Startled and a little scared, Jenny was yanked back into reality. Her head snapped up and tilted to one side, trying to identify the noise.

" _What the hell could that be? Maybe the pipes are just really old or maybe it's a subway train... No way. I'm not far enough down for that... Am I?"_ While she was distracted by her own thoughts, the cacophony pinpointed to what seemed like the other side of the far wall. She slowly stood and crept closer. Now she could distinguish individual yells and squeals of pain.

" _What the HELL?"_

In the split second that the wall imploded and sent her careening back into chair, the world slowed in the way a person sees a vision of exactly how they will die, seconds before they do. She could pick out the individual bricks speeding toward her face with disturbing clarity. The dust billowed like Death himself, come to claim everything enveloped within the fog of destruction.

As her spine came in contact with the soft armchair she had been seated in just seconds ago, time sped back up. Air was refused entrance into her flattened lungs and her arm felt like a sumo wrestler had given it a good hard _wrench_ backwards. As she lay curled up on the ground, now gritty with fragments of bricks, black spots danced in her vision.

 _Agonizing pain in the upper shoulders._ It barely registered to her that she was in danger. _Her arm._ Thoughts ripped through her mind. _Every disc in her spine shrieked._ Faster than she could comprehend, she had pushed herself to a crouch and balled up behind the chair. Priorly hidden instincts made her tense in preparation. But preparation for what?

 _RUN._

Air whooshed back into her lungs, pumping adrenaline through her veins with a rush like she'd never felt before. She darted out from her hiding place and sped through the cloud of destruction just feet from her.

The door back to the upper levels was in her line of sight, a clear shot though the stacks. Surprisingly, few of the shelves had been hit. Books were jumbled in messy piles with pages stick up at odd angles like crooked fingers reaching for the sky. It made Jenny wince at the sight of crumpled pages, but she couldn't worry about that now.

She focused on hurdling the bookshelves that had collapsed in her path to the door. So close! It was right in front of her! Just a few more yards. All she had to do was reach out and grab the knob...

So of course, it was at that exact moment she was hit from behind by a flying mass. With a scream, her feet flew out from underneath her and she hit the floor with a loud _bang!_

Wincing at the pain radiating from her bruised behind, Jenny forced her muscles to move, now crawling for the door. But her legs had given all they had and she collapsed. What the hell was going on? Was this a terrorist attack? All she knew was that she wanted out. But the thick smoke and dust coated the back of her throat and fogged her mind, making it impossible to yell for help or think.

So she lay there in the wake of devastation, a once safe haven now destroyed, and when she couldn't hold her eyes open any longer, she gave into her exhaustion and fell into the black.


	2. What was Hidden

**Hello! Took a while again, especially with how short this chapter is. :/ Sorry.**

 **So instead of picking up right where we left off, there's a bit of a time jump. Just bear with me and enjoy the really sudden plot device.**

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" _Ugh, what hit me last night?"_

Jenny's head was pounding harder than the bass at a rave, deep and weightless at the same time. She could feel her very eyeballs throbbing, her cheeks were burning, and sweat dripped down her neck. Mentally, she checked over each part of her body; her limbs ached, her stomach rolled with hunger, and she felt a deep ache in her shoulder bones. It almost felt as though someone had taken hold of them and gave them a rigorous yank _down_ and _out_. And was she... strapped to a table?

But none of that explained what happened or where she currently was. A memory floated to the surface of her mind, unbidden and sharp.

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" _Abe! I'm comin' up. There's been an... accident."_

 _Something hard and unyielding was wrapped uncomfortably around her waist. A swaying motion like she was ascending up a staircase roiled her stomach and it threatened to upend itself._

" _Mmph!" She had bitten her tongue in an attempt to keep from throwing up. The coppery, slick liquid seeped around her teeth, leaving a sharp sting and a gross taste._

" _Take it easy, kid. You're gonna make it worse. Stop squirming!" The voice above her snarled._

 _She couldn't understand, didn't realize who he was or what was going on. All she knew was that every muscle and nerve in her body were screaming in pain._

" _Jesus Christ. I'm gonna drop her if you don't take her." Now the voice was addressing someone else. She dimly became aware that they had stopped climbing._

 _Maybe she cried out in pain again (she was too out of it to know for sure), but she was quickly transferred to a different pair of arms. Whereas the last pair were hard as rock and covered in bristly hair, these were soft and felt strangely brittle. And yet, they held her with apparent ease._

" _Stay calm. You're in good hands." A new voice came from above her. Jenny struggled to listen, to try and heed the advice and calm her mind. But her mind and body still screamed and burned like an inferno._

 _A cool hand was laid carefully on her face, wiping strands of hair off her forehead._

" _I'm sorry for this, but you've left me with little choice." Before they were even finished speaking, she felt something foreign and alien enter her mind. Her mind cried out in terror now, rather than pain, trying to fight the invasion. Like a bronco that bucks and tries to throw off an unfamiliar rider, her mind attempted to force it out._

 _Her arms became pinned down and her movements restricted by unforeseen enforcers. Just as she became overwhelmed in panic something pricked the side of her neck. Gradually, slowly, Jenny's mind quieted. A hazy, soft blanket settled over it and made her feel woozy._

 _The foreign presence permeated her mind with ease, but now it felt like the touch of a familiar friend. Sleep came easily and she willing succumbed to it._

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The keen sear of the memory had Jenny gasping for breath, trying to calm down. But even that simplistic, instinctive motion didn't feel right. Air cycled so quickly through her bloodstream, it left her even more lightheaded than before.

" _What's wrong with me? Am I dying?!"_ Before her brain could lose any further coherency, the door to her left opened and allowed for a woman in casual clothes and a white coat to pass through. The white coat immediately caught her eye.

" _A scientist? And I'm here strapped to this table... oh no..."_ Every mediocre science fiction novel screamed that this was bad, _very_ bad. Why was she here? What was going on? She could remember a little more now, about the library and an explosion, and that weird memory of ascending...

They weren't going to hurt her... were they? She would have liked to asked the woman directly, but she wasn't sure if her throat could work correctly.

"Who are you?" Her throat was as dry as she predicted. Surprisingly, the woman said nothing, only released her from the bonds and gave her a bottle of water. Jenny snatched it greedily from the scientist and guzzled half of it in a second. As she began to slow her fervid drinking, the woman spoke up.

"Do you remember anything before this?" Jenny's eyes narrowed slightly in irritation when the lady didn't answer her question.

"I was... at the library. I just wanted to find something to read while I was in town; I'm only visiting..." That was correct, right? Her memories might have been fuzzy, but they were slowly slipping back.

"So you say..." The woman heavily implied.

"Ah'm sorry, but can you please get to tha' point? Yah seem to have me at a disadvantage." The underlying country accent in Jenny's voice came out, thickening her voice from frustration.

"Alright, I'll 'get to the point'. The point is we know your secret. So... Who are you?" She leveled Jenny with a hardened stare, fierce enough to make any man cry for his mama.

"Mah secret? Lady, you're confusing me more than before, if tha's possible. Ah'd suggest you learn who yer kidnapping before you commit!"

"Playing coy won't help you here. We know that there is no Jennifer Lee Lockwood. There's no such name in the system that adds up to your academic history and legal documents. No one was born under that name and lives in Asheville. Not even a single name change file. Very impressive, I must say, for you and experiment #24-601 to have evaded us for so long."

"What are yeh, crazy? Ah have a social security card, fer cryin' out loud! And Ah don't know a thing about no experiment #24-601!" Jenny thought she was in trouble before, but this was just getting ridiculous. "Ah don't know who yah think you are, but when Ah get outta here, Ah will rain justice down on you and yer superiors' heads!" She snarled.

"Documents such as social security cards are easier to obtain than we'd like the public to believe, as I'm sure you already know," The doctor wasn't even fazed by Jenny's threats. There was a chilling gleam in her eyes that had Jenny's stomach tying itself in knots. "And I wouldn't worry your little head about any 'justice'. We are a paid government facility. They already know you're here."

Jenny suddenly wished she had more water because her mouth dried up faster than the Sahara. Before, she sucked in so much air that it made her dizzy; now she couldn't get enough.

"And what 'bout mah parents? Ah assume they don't know 'bout any of this." Jenny forced herself to keep talking. If she stopped to think, she knew she'd start going down paths in her mind she'd rather leave alone.

"Parents?" The doctors quizzical tone loosened the knot of panic in Jenny's stomach. Maybe she was the only one in danger here. Her parents, while they would realize she had gone missing, would be safe from this woman and whoever she worked for.

She should have known she wasn't that lucky.

"Oh no, your mother isn't a person of interest. Your father however..." Icy fear slid down Jenny's spine. "Your father is another story... or should I say experiment #24-601?"

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 **Please review!**


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